The 7 Best Ethnic Grocery Stores in Oklahoma City

September 26, 2017 at 10:00 am

One of the absolute joys of helping immigrants get settled in OKC is telling them about our city’s diverse cultures. You don’t need to go anywhere fancy to experience these cultures—it’s as simple as going shopping. You can see just how diverse and delicious OKC is by visiting its many ethnic grocery stores.

One of the best ways to bring people from different backgrounds together is by learning about them. At the moment, our country seems more divided than it should be. The more we learn about those who are different from us, the more united OKC can be. Let’s be a model for the rest of the world.

So, wondering where to go first? We’ve got you covered. Take a look at our summary of the best ethnic grocery stores in OKC, and be sure to let us know if you think we’ve left off any you love!

Asian Grocery Store: Super Cao Nguyen

Super Cao Nguyen has the best reputation of any grocery store in OKC. For almost forty years, this family-owned business has been aninspiring example of immigrantsachievingtheAmericandream. Offering 55,000 products, Super Cao is one of the highest rated OKC grocery stores on Google.

Location: 2668 N. Military Ave. in central OKC.

Super Cao is located in the well-known Asian District just north of Midtown. This district has had a national reputation since the 1970s, when many Vietnamese refugees made OKC their new home.

Owner: Founded by Tri and Kim Quach Luong, Super Cao is now run by their sons Ba, Hai, and Remy. The store is named after the Cao Nguyen central highlands area of Vietnam. Tri worked two jobs in Arkansas to save enough money to start Super Cao.

Food and Cultures Represented: The owners are from Vietnam, but they have expanded their store to offer items from many Asian cultures and countries (such as Korea, Japan, and China). You’ll also find items from France, Indonesia, Italy, and the Middle East. In fact, you’re likely tohear 20 different languages spoken by customers on any given day.

Recently, Edible OKC recommended Super Cao’s Droste cocoa and Pandan coconut waffles made in the store while you shop. You’re unlikely to find a better bowl of pho anywhere in the city, and The Smithsonian Institution also spotlighted Super Cao and others in the district for their banh mi and curried frog legs.

Fun Facts: Super Cao is a fantastic place in OKC to celebrate the Chinese New Year.Celebrations held outside the store feature fireworks and colorful costumes.

How to Celebrate Super Cao’s Cultural Tastes: One of the best ways to celebrate OKC’s diverse cultures is to taste the amazing food you can find at stores like Super Cao. On weekends, you’re likely to find Asian street food vendors inside the store. OK Gazetterecommended banh bao xá xíu, which are Vietnamese steamed buns filled with pork, chicken, or barbecued pork.

Other favorites to try are the No. 1pork banh mi (ham, head cheese, pâté, butter, pickled carrots, daikon, and jalapeno) or the No. 7(grilled pork, cucumber, and jalapeno).Whatever choice you make, you’ll quickly learn that few groceries can rival Super Cao’s reputation for service and quality.

Asian Grocery Store: Saigon Taipei Asian Market

Yet another of the most popular Asian grocery stores in OKC is Saigon Taipei Asian Market. The store recently remodeled, and it now features larger aisles and even more products.

Location: 1648 SW 89th St. near the Will Rogers World Airport.

South OKC is one of the more diverse parts of the city, and Saigon Taipei, located just north of the city of Moore, is a great example of that diversity. Saigon Taipei is part of theSouth Penn Plaza shopping center, which also features Vietnamese, Thai, and Mexican restaurants.

Owner: Quan Nguyen.

Food and Cultures Represented: Saigon Taipei offers food from China, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Taiwan, India, and even Africa. The store features a bakery, produce, meat, seafood, and cooking supplies. You can find sweet rice, bok choy, Chinese broccoli, young coconuts, ginger, and rice cookers, among many other items.

Fun Facts: Saigon Taipei carries green Kit Kat bars, which are green tea–flavored wafers mixed with chocolate. These areincredibly popular in Japan, but there’s no need for a flight around the world to pick up this candy when you can just take a short drive to southwest OKC!

How to Celebrate Saigon Taipei’s Cultural Tastes: Saigon Taipei is one of OKC’s best places to pick up Thai curries and sushi. You can even find herbal medicines, candles, and unique sodas.

Middle Eastern Grocery Store: Spices of India

Just a few miles northwest of Super Cao isSpices of India, one of the most popular Indian grocery stores in OKC. Since 2012, the owners also operate a vegetarian Indian fast food cafe next door, named Rasoi Chaat, which Oklahoma Gazette named one of seven great Indian restaurants in 2015.

Location: 3910 NW 39th St. on historic Route 66.

This diverse part of OKC, which is north of Will Rogers Park, is on the edge of the town of Bethany.

Owner: Nita and Rajni Patel immigrated to OKC and opened Spices of India nearly 30 years ago. They started with a store of just 1,250 square feet—which is now, according to 405 Magazine, is “the go-to grocers for a second generation of clients, who grew up coming to Spices of India with their parents.”

Food and Cultures Represented: It’s no surprise that their specialty is Indian food, including exotic produce. The store also offers curries and food from Pakistan and other Middle Eastern countries. The Patels see a lot of customers from Britain, too. Spices of India also sells snacks, spices, frozen goods, hair and skincare products, religious items, Indian DVDs and CDs, jewelry, and magazines.

Fun Facts: Spices of India’s 25,000+ square-foot building was once a famous bowling alley, especially when Route 66 was one of the most popular highways in the country.

How to Celebrate Spices of India’s Cultural Tastes: One of the best ways to experience Indian food is to buypani puri at Rasoi. This crunchy bread ball is filled with various ingredients such as potatoes, spices, chickpeas, chutney, and mint leaves. You can also get some great quinoa at what is probably the best price in OKC. Finally, Spices of India has pickled and jarred fruits, vegetables, gourds, and seafood, which pair perfectly with hummus.

Latin American Grocery Store: Super Mercados Morelos in Moore and OKC

No list of best ethnic grocery stores in OKC is complete withoutSuper Mercados Morelos—it’s one of the most beloved Latin American grocery stores in the city. In fact,local foodies argue there is no better place in OKC to get supplies to make fresh, authentic tacos and salsa.

Location: The oldest and highest rated store is at 621 N. Moore Ave. in Moore, OK, just south of OKC.

This is another diverse area of OKC, next to the popular Himalayas Aroma of India restaurant.

Supermercados Morelos also has three other locations in OKC at 4704 NW 23rd St., 4475 NW 50th St., and 1 SE 59th St. Each location was chosen to serve a growing Hispanic population. The first two stores are near Spices of India. The SE 59th St. location is the newest and largest store yet, and is near Saigon Taipei Market.

Owner: Francisco Ibarra and Manuel Gomez own Supermercados Morelos; theirfathers started the company 13 years ago after moving to OKC from Mexico. Members of the Ibarra family (Jose, Sr., Jose Jr., Daniel, Vanessa and Fernando) run the OKC stores while cousins run the Tulsa locations.

Supermercados Morelos also offers a sit-down carniceria restaurant with a greatrating on Yelp. Customers love the store’s carne asada, barbacoa, gorditas, chile rellenos, smoothies, and street tacos, among other dishes.

Fun Facts: The name ‘Morelos’ is a reference to the Ibarras’ hometown of Morelia (named after Jose Maria Morelos) in the Mexican state of Michoacán. In fact, the Ibarras take pride in their pork carnitas and chicharrones (pork skins), foodsthat Michoacán is famous for.

Super Mercados Morelos is also a proud sponsor of OKC’s professional soccer clubEnergy FC.

How to Celebrate Super Mercado Morelos Cultural Tastes: It’s hard to go wrong with a dish from the carniceria. Try the shredded beef with roast peppers, onion, rice, and red sauce. You can add toppings like cilantro, too. Since most folks order two meats, be sure to get the chicharrones with green sauce. It’s the pride of Michoacán! Top it off with a Topo Chico mineral water to go.

Latin American Grocery Store: Feria Latina Supermarket

Another one of the most popular ethnic grocery stores in OKC isFeria Latina Supermarket. The store is known for having different promotions each day, and customers can sign up to receive coupons via email. Feria Latina Supermarket also has ahighly rated sit-down taqueria restaurant inside the store.

Location: 4909 NW 23rd St. in the old Windsor Oaks neighborhood south of Bethany.

This location, north of the state fairgrounds, has become one of OKC’s most diverse areas. Right by a Supermercados Morelos, it’s also not far from Spices of India.

Owner: Amilcar De Leon is the general director of this store, which was started in 2006 by a group of friends. Their goal was to create the best Latin supermarket in OKC, and now they’re always looking for new products for their growing Hispanic customer base.

Food and Cultures Represented: Feria Latina offers products from at least 10 Latin American countries, including Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. You’ll find many fruits, vegetables, meats, seafood, candy, spices, and freshly baked breads. You can even find products from Africa, and shoppers love Feria Latina’s plantains. You also have to try Feria Latina’s seasonings, like coriander, achiote, and natural fruit boosters by Tijan. The store offers everything you need to make a mean bean dip, too.

Fun Facts: Customers love Feria Latina’s selection of piñatas. No fiesta should go without one! Be sure to fill it with diverse flavors from the store’s extensive candy aisle.

How to Celebrate Feria Latina’s Cultural Tastes: Visit around lunch and treat yourself to an amazing and authentic burrito with juicy chicken, rice, beans, and fresh salsa. Pair it with a Fresca sparkling grapefruit soda and a sugary churro for dessert.

Latin American Grocery Store: Super Mercado Buy for Less

Buy For Less is an OKC-based chain that has opened Super Mercado Buy For Less,and customers have been praising it for its authentic items. You can find most of Buy for Less Super Mercado’s promotions on theirFacebook page.

Location: 3713 S. Western Ave. in OKC near SW 36th St.

There are large and small stores around the city, but the most popular and highest-rated location is the Western Ave. store. It’s just south of OKC’s historic and diverse Capitol Hill district.

Owner: Hank Binkowski started Buy For Less in OKC in 1988. He grew up working in a family restaurant, and hisfather was a Polish immigrant who was survived detention in a German prison camp.

Food and Cultures Represented: Super Mercado Buy for Less stores sell food from many countries in Latin America, though Mexican products are among its best sellers. At Super Mercado, you can find freshly baked breads, produce, meat, candy, and a sit-down restaurant.

Fun Facts: The Western Ave. store is not far from the Oklahoma River and the new Wheeler District, which features theWheeler Ferris wheel.

How to Celebrate Super Mercado’s Cultural Tastes: Pick up marinated chicken or shredded beef and pair it with fresh cactus (nopalitos).Grilled nopalitos covered in cheese and green sauce are a delicacy in Mexico. Try it—you won’t be disappointed!

Mediterranean Imports is near OKC’s historic and diverse Bell Isle area, just north of Interstate 44.

Owner:Atif Asal and his family know their regulars by name, and he’s always quick with a smile. They enjoygiving back to the OKC community, contributing to events like the Tour de Palate Wine and Culinary Tasting Event to raise money for leukemia research.

Food and Cultures Represented: The store offers foods from all around the Mediterranean, including olives, Bulgarian or Greek feta, Italian spaghetti, falafel, dried apricots, nuts, bricks of imported cheeses, spices, mangoes, and other groceries. The store is also well known for its popular lunch deli featuring rare meats likelardo with rosemary. Customers love the store’s gyros, olive bar, pasta, coffee, tea, and herbs.

Fun Facts: Mediterranean Imports sells fresh flatbreads that are four feet long. Localfoodies choose this for homemade pizza when cooking for a group.

How to Celebrate Mediterranean Imports’ Cultural Tastes: It’s a given that you have to eat Mediterranean Imports’ hummus, perfectly paired with pita bread. In addition, you’ll have a difficult time saying no to the store’s beautiful slabs of imported chocolate. In the deli, try the kafta covered in sweet sauce over rice.

What do you think?

So, now you know our seven favorite ethnic grocery stores in OKC. These stores represent flavors and cultures from around the globe, helping us in OKC see just how connected we are to the rest of world. And what’s even better is that all of these stores were started by amazing immigrants who chose OKC as the city where they wanted to achieve the American dream. We’re proud to share this great, diverse city with them!

What’s on your list? Perhaps your favorite is a small, little-known store. We want to hear from you—leave a comment below and tell us what you love most about your favorite ethnic grocery store in OKC.